Abstract :
During the rapid progress in the integrated circuit industry up to the present, three groups of electronic systems, namely
the calculators/electronic watches, the TV receivers/video cassette players and recorders, and the mainframe
computers/personal computers, have played remarkable roles in expanding the integrated circuit market. Improvement in
lithography by using sources with shorter wavelengths of light has been the first key technology during this progress. The
second key process technology is the realization of the device structures at each generation of the integration, which have
been successfully developed. For the 0.1 pm age in the future, lithography and new materials are possible key technologies.
Related to the limits of miniaturization and integration, RC delay on the metal wiring, limit to the lithography and
high-aspect-ratio holes in the insulator are discussed. The RC delay limits the operation speed of the integrated circuits. We
propose a new method to raise the limit. The limit to lithography is basically ascribed to the accuracy of the electron-beam
writing. Higher-density electron-beam systems have to be pursued. Finally, we show the trend of the aspect-ratios of the
holes on the basis of the scaling approaches.
